Tag: Sailing

Papua New Guinea

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in adventure

Goodbye Papua New Guinea, Hello Indonesia! Our short 1 month journey here in PNG has been way too short, but we had 900 miles to go before the winds would start getting inconsistent and begin to shut off. We stopped at two beautiful atolls; Hermits and Naningos. Sorong, Indonesia is our final leg before flying back to the states in November.

Kavieng was a great spot to reprovision, relax, go to the market and have a great meal at Nusa Resort. Fun to not cook on the hot boat, once in a while. We also stocked up on fresh fruit and veg, meats and cheeses and plenty of coffee for our month in the remote islands. We spent the last Kina/$ on some beer, the last we will see of that drink for awhile.

We have met some beautiful people here in PNG, rich in culture but some quite poor in health, education, food and water. I have never quite felt these guilty type emotions before. Hard to describe it, similar to my work in Special education, but I was working hard supporting those folks. I can do so little here. 🙏🏼🤔

As we get more and more remote, we continue to be dumbfounded by what these small villages don’t have. One particular island had little water and most of their crops have dried and died. Their primary diet is yams and what fish they can catch, and that’s tough with little fuel resources.
They don’t have:
Any medical supplies (Candice spent the morning dressing open wounds and skin infections)
Fishing supplies, the hooks and line we gave the locals were employed immediately. We gave spark plugs for the Yamaha motors they use and the island fishermen follow us around.
Teaching supplies, Kathy spends time with the children and teaches some basics, gives notebooks and pencils. The children want to learn and enjoy conversational English. She became close friends with one village teacher. Note: No school this month due to the island drought, El Niño? Actually it’s dry every year. Kids just stare at us….(sorry to say we have to avoid touching them due to fungal skin issues)
Internet, Jason brings in his Starlink and allows the village to access internet for the first time in months. Yes, some phones here but mostly just young adults messaging with family far away.

There is zero economy here. Absolutely no way to make money and purchase necessary life sustaining items for the village. Baby’s are born in huts with midwives. Average family has 7 children. Kids scratching skin infections called “grille” that cover their entire bodies. A man with a broken hands asked for some kind of pain relief.
What’s interesting is the shortage of coconuts because the local youth is steeling coconuts from neighboring trees to make a form or alcohol. The Chief discussed this at length and the need to reach the youth younger and teach leadership. Scott reminded him that youth problems are encountered everywhere and that this problem is not unique to him. (Btw, the chief held court the day we were there and issued punishment to three boys. One youth was required to provide the village with one pig, some shell money and 500 of their dollars). We discussed having them more involved with community service. (Shell money is another story). The Chief blames the Japanese for teaching the islanders how to make alcohol out of the coconuts when they controlled the island in 1942. 😵‍💫

They sail or paddle out to the boat and bring fruit, Vegetables, and maybe even lobster! They rarely ask for anything, but we know they need basics, that we can provide. This island offered nothing to trade like Solomons in the past. They have nothing, but often provide a community meal for us. They stare at the boat like it’s from outer space. Sometimes saying nothing but always smiling. We give and give and still feel guilty we can’t give more. We purchased hundreds of dollars of trade items and we just about gave it all away. Sometimes we just search the boat for things we can give. Much of what we have is useless to them. Think needs not wants. In the Naningos we found amazing sandy beaches and reefs. Probably our favorite atoll yet!

The Chief is a wonderful man but sees the technology gap between his people and the outside world. Says he is stuck and the Papua New Guinea Govt does nothing to help. He feels trapped and unfortunately his people aren’t motivated to change. (A whole other story)
The islands airport was built by the Japanese during WWII and has been closed because no one can afford to buy tickets and support business. Scott and he talked for a long time and plot ways he can take the “next step” in moving his people to a more stable environment and hopefully someday “progress”. “Just a few solar panels would help” he says. He reported that many boats just stop and say hi and move on. Click the YouTube icon for some stunning drone footage:

But….these are happy people. They are surrounded by family and the weather (other than the occasional drought) is perfect, 85 degrees year round. You would look at this island as paradise. They see it as home but think it’s far from paradise.

Coming back to the boat and cooking our dinner of chicken, green beans and sharing some chocolate for dessert just feels creepy knowing what’s going on just yards from us. We gave them the beans that were given to us from our prior island.

Sometimes this isn’t easy…and we see things that just makes us feel crappy. One small island has 13,000 people! Over populated for the resources the chief says. Scott reports depths of politics, social problems and island history are crazy interesting and…. National Geographic would love this place. Fiji absolutely looks 1st world compared to here. 🤷.

You can’t take the teacher out Kathy, she just loves these little impromptu lessons.
What a great greeting and cool people. No internet and just happy kids.

I’ve sure enjoyed the differences in the canoe construction between all these Island countries. They have bigger canoes here and the outriggers are back. Solomon had no outriggers, but Vanuatu did. Only Nanigo Atoll had the sailing Outriggers.

Goodbye Solomon Islands, headed to Papua New Guinea; our 12th country visited by sailboat!

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in adventure

Wow, what a huge learning curve these last 5 weeks in the Solomon Islands have been. One thinks by this age you can make generalities about human beings. Well, culturally speaking, we have been humbled to the core. Traveling to these remote areas with 0 tourism nor external influence gave us a new perspective on human possibility. Unthinkable, genuine hospitality, kindness, joy, creativity, humor, care, and compassion for all! The Solomon people have a calm tender/sweet style, so friendly in nature, and warm welcoming hearts. They have big families, not much need for money, and usually 5 or more children each. Food is practically falling off their trees and gardens. Most families in the Morovo Lagoon area have at least one carver craftsperson in their greater family. Their carvings were spectacular with fine detail. We traded food or clothing for a few special pieces that we will take home. 

The Reef group of Islands was also a shocker. Dozens of canoe children, called pikinini’s, rowed up to KALEA all day, everyday during our week stay in this Southern province. Kathy shared some brownies one day and ice cubes another, played loud Michael Jackson while we all swam off the back steps, the smiles, giggles and chatting. This Island sees very few visitors and us being “white skins” we are a bit of a spectacle. Not to mention that the adults just paddle out to the boat and stare, like it’s a spaceship. This island is one of the few Polynesian islands vs Melanesian. A very poor island with no data sources at all. No phones, cars, stores, air strip, power….nothing, but, wow do they have hearts of gold. Always wanting to give fruit, veggies and share in a little laughter or a simple story. Not very much English is spoken here. We quickly learned the value of trade. For over a month, we traded with the locals, usually at the back of our boat, sometimes in their home. They loved receiving; clothes, pantry items, notebooks, pencils, soccer balls, fishing supplies, cookery, and even a pack of oreo cookies. They would rather have these items than money. They would give us fruit, root veggies, coconut, and seashells. At the end of the week, we all celebrated good new friendships over a potluck meal, complete with singing, speeches, and gifts!

Betel Nut, really a Areca nut, causes the red teeth in most adults in these parts of the world. The process of mixing the three ingredients in your mouth when mixed with your saliva turns your mouth red and teeth black. They say it is semi addictive (with a happy high) and the majority of the adults (some children as young as 12) appear to do it. The Solomon Islands and Papa New Guinea are know for it. Ingredients: Betel nut, Green Bean looking thing 🤷, and Slaked lime (calcium hydroxide powder), made from burnt coral or shells.

🌎 While we were in the Florida Islands, Kathy visited Leitongo School. When the chief had learned she was a retired teacher, he invited her to be a volunteer teacher for the day. This was a thrill, and she gave it a go. “I stepped up to an old dusty chalkboard with stumpy little bits of chalk to teach 4 different subject areas for 4 different classrooms. This was an English only school, but the teachers mainly use Pidgin English for instruction. The children were such cuties, like sponges, glued to my every word and participating fully in my ‘off the cuff’ silly but engaging activities.” 😀

She bonded with the wonderful school teachers and had so much to learn and share from each other. Almost felt like old times again, back at SLOHS in California. Later that day, the school administrator explained that although the school was grateful to receive a much needed WASH facility (flush toilets) last December, unfortunately they had not been able to use them due to a defect in the construction! OH NO!😬. Sadly, they locked the doors to the restrooms and all 125 school children (and the rest of the local population) have returned to defecating among the mangroves along the ocean. 😳

Well, since my bother Andrew was visiting from California, and since he is a licensed sanitation Geologist, he promptly emailed the Solomon Sanitation Department and the US Embassy here. UNICEF will now be reviewing, monitoring, and making maintenance arrangements with the school, contractor and relevant authorities AND will fix this issue and help prevent similar issues in other facilities, world wide! 😊 Stay tuned!

The Solomon specialists appreciated the technical suggestions my brother raised and planned to visit the island immediately. It was such a short and simple effort we made within our short stay, but YAY! We love to make a difference in the world, any way that pops up. 🌎

We were able to avoid the crocodiles and Scuba Diving twice in the Solomon Islands. Our first dive was Laru Cut. This is a slice in the massive limestone wall, going 10 feet wide, 300 feet long and about 60 feet ahead into the jungle and 60 deep into the clear ocean waters. Quite an experience with the light filtering down in the crevice and onto the sandy floor. There were not many fish or coral, but so cool for us to to be swimming in signal file to the end and back. Once done in the crevice, we continued to the outer wall, with nutrient rich waters rushing by none stop. This wall was so thick with corals, fans, sponges, fish and nudibranch-really loved it!

Did you catch that? Yes there are crocodiles here, another regular and very sad news worthy issue. we anchored one quick night and had a resident salty circling our boat!

We later dropped off Kathy’s Brother at the tiny strip of rough asphalt known as Seghe Airport, on the island of New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. Seghe airport was hastily built in 1943 as a forward airbase during WWII. (Think Ba Ba Blacksheep) When we parked the dinghy at the dock the airport was under construction with a new terminal. For some reason they had pulled out of the ocean an old engine and what one worker told us was a Mine sweeper drogue. We later identified the engine and it turned out to be a Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp Engine, 14 cylinders. It was most likely a Fighter/Bomber engine from a Wildcat F4F. Super cool. BUT, the Drogue turned out to be an arial depth bomb!!!!!! We are glad we didn’t touch it, very possibly live. 😳 Evidently there is three aircraft still in the water at the end of the runway one of which is confirmed to still have 325-pound depth bombs attached to them. The Solomon news reports deaths by bomb nearly every year! Incredibly sad. We made a note in the sailing app: NoForeignLand NOT TO ANCHOR anywhere near the airport. 😳

More details on WW2: If you didn’t know, we were at Guadalcanal for a few days. Thousands of Americans died here stopping the Japanese movement south in WWII. A local brought us a dog tag that was found near his village. He is looking to sell it but basically he wants a “reward”. He is asking $1000 USD. 😵‍💫🥴 He was in WWII and in the Solomon Islands in 1942. After a bunch of research, Scott learned that this soldier had an injury and was sent back to the states in 1943, and apparently has left his dog tags here.

Interesting fact, we were on an island a week ago that a soldier washed up dead in 1942. The local Chief at the time, not wanting to gain any attention to his island, instructed the village to bury him up on the hill. Just recently the village revealed the location of the grave site and the Australian military came and exhumed the remains JUST TWO WEEKS ago and took him back to Australia to try and identify the MIA soldier, most likely a US or Australian serviceman.
Amazing really and makes us proud that our countries are still working to reunite our fighting men with their families and country homeland.

Goodbye Vanuatu, Hello Solomon Islands

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in adventure, Sailing, Travel

Sailing across the Pacific Ocean over the last few years, we now make Landfall in country number 11: Solomon Islands. It was a beautiful, steady sail north from the lovely Vanuatu provinces — 220 miles on a beam reach, 1 reef in the main, with a 3-meter swell on our starboard quarter. We anchored at midday to drumming and a warm welcome from the local village.

After an easy clearing in at Lata, Solomon’s, we sailed another 35 miles to the remote Reef Islands. Kathy shared brownies with the kids who paddled out to greet us. This island sees very few visitors — none in the last five years, we were told — so our boat Kalea got a lot of curious attention.

Video from our YouTube Channel @kaleasailingadventure

The Reef Islands are one of the few Polynesian outlier communities in a mostly Melanesian chain. Life here is very off-grid: no cell service, no cars, no mains power. Just incredibly welcoming and sweet. They speak Solomon Pijin, which is English-based but still tricky for us to follow, at this island anyway. We went ashore to meet the chief and brought small gifts — a soccer ball and some basic fishing gear. The little 2-year-old girl was fascinated by my hair and wanted to touch it. (Many more stories to come, as we will luckily stay in this country another 6 weeks.)

We caught up with new and past cruiser friends from French Polynesia, Fiji, and New Zealand. Some are doing a Pacific Ocean circumnavigation and the others will continue on through Indonesia with us next year or 2.

From the bottom clockwise: Hilde, Jason, Dennis, Chris,Jen, Candice, Kathy, Don, and Julie.

A quick thought back to our last days in Vanuatu celebrating Scott’s birthday. 🥳 So much love, laughter, and unforgettable memories. Our friends really spoiled him.

After the birthday, one of our last and favorite stops was the small island of Gaua. You haven’t heard ‘nature music’ until you hear the Water Music women. The water is more than just the sea. It’s calendar, it’s food, it’s story. And the women have learned to play it. What struck me most: they told me this is not “a show for tourists.” It’s village life. A daily practice now kept by only a few villages. Standing in a line in the sea, they use cupped hands to trap air and slap the surface — creating deep bass notes, sharp clicks, and rushing splashes. Six or seven women — sisters, cousins, mothers, in-laws — in perfect sync, and the water becomes an orchestra. The woman in front leads the story: the dolphin jumping or the daily work of the village. All you need is black sand, the sea, and village kids watching from shore to learn. No drums. No strings. Just water — until it sings. Beautiful and loud! 🎶

Now for a well known fact about the culture in Solomon’s, the chewing of Betel Nut. We had a nice chat with James and Amanda in the Reef Islands. They walked us through how they chew areca nut, or betel nut. You mix three things in your mouth and your saliva turns red — over time it stains teeth. They say it’s mildly addictive, gives a small buzz, and a lot of adults chew it. You see it across Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea too.

Ingredients they showed us:

  1. Betel/areca nut. 2. Mustard stick / green bean-like leaf (they call it daka) 3. Slaked lime — calcium hydroxide powder made from burnt coral or shells.

Collecting new shells, Scott reflects:
“All my young life, my mom would walk the beach with my brother and me, collecting shells. In South Carolina, our house was full of them — in drawers, in boxes in the garage, and in those hurricane globe lamps everyone in the family got at some point. I remember so many days walking the shoreline, hunting for those little treasures. Even now, 50 years later, I still walk the beach looking for that unique or perfect shell. I turn them into jewelry and give them to local ladies or family at Christmas. Today, those walks are still time I get to spend with my mom — miles and miles of beach with her at my side, discussing each shell we find. Linda Erwin, you are part of why I love the sea… and all her treasures. I still walk with you.” ~Scott

Sailing to a new country? Customs, Immigration, Biosecurity…

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in adventure
Bay of Islands Marina, NZ

New Zealand Check out time! 😅
We often get the question from family back home; “What is the Customs process for a sailboat exiting or entering a country, and what about Immigration?” Folks are shocked at the lengthy procedures, not just for us crew but for the boat as well. The Port Officials and Border patrol are always watching all boats coming and going. They use online programs like Marine Traffic, since boats have an AIS (automatic identification system). Their exact location is transmitted through the vhf radio. Port authorities, and coast guards worldwide rely on AIS for traffic control, and security. In a few days, we check out of New Zealand. They will review our visas, our paperwork, our boat documents and stamp all crews passports. They will monitor our boat closely, after our appointment, we promptly exit their waters without stopping.

We sent in the New Caledonia Customs paperwork so that when we get close, we will hoist our yellow flag, and arrive at their check in area. This yellow flag (Q flag) dated back to the 1300’s, aka “yellow jack” for yellow fever. It also means “my vessel is healthy and I request free pratique.” This indicates that we are entering their country and will head straight to the customs dock to resume health checks. This flag stays up until we are fully cleared in and free to come and go.

Once we are the Dock, our boat may get searched by biosecurity. They look for pets, plants, raw meats, drugs and produce. Any specified meats, fresh produce and alcohol over their limit is taken and our trash is double bagged and collected. The 21 or so official Customs papers that I had previously emailed in are reviewed. If all good, our passports are stamped, we lower the yellow flag, and hoist the local country flag above our US flag. Either that day or the next, we pay for clearing in and are granted our tourist visas, boat temporary import papers, and cruising permits. Then we can freely get off the boat and enjoy the country.
It’s a lot, right? Phew! 😅

Fiji

Once at the Port Dock, boats may get searched by biosecurity. They look for pets, plants, raw meats, drugs and produce. Any uneaten produce is taken and our trash is double bagged and collected. The 21 or so official Customs papers that I had previously emailed in are reviewed. If all good, our passports and boat intake forms are stamped we then lower the yellow flag, and hoist the local country flag above our US flag. Either that day or the next we pay for clearing in and are granted our tourist visas, temporary import papers, and cruising permits. Then we can freely get off the boat.

Researching Papa New Guinea

We spend a lot of time researching the location of the Ports of call for each country. There may be 4-5 Ports spread out on various small islands, all with varying advantages or disadvantages. For example, these remote places may only have offices open a few days a week. It pays to research. Sailors are grateful for the app called Noforeignland. With map filters we can easily find the Offices to head to. Sometimes these buildings are miles apart and might have no public transportation. These are stressful days. Remember, new country, new language, new money, new transportation and new procedures. We were lucky to have a welcoming party as we entered Fiji 2 years ago.

Vuda Marina, Fiji

Now we are saying goodbye to our 2 week stay in New Caledonia, and our new French friends that we made here. We enjoy learning about the country from the locals. Barbara and Kim treated us at their delicious restaurant “Hanahana” and later we took them out for a spectacular sunset sail. Much discussion on local Politics, culture and family similarities. The capital city here is Noumea, and is bustling, a bit dirty and very French. We found some fun spots, the Catholic Church, some ruins from 1881 and even bought a new dingy for a friend in need. (Not saying any names here, btw) 🤣
My favorite aspect of Noumea is the fact that it’s free for both check in/out and the 3 month visa. The wines, cheeses and diesel was not cheap, however. But feeling very grateful! 🥰

We are off to Vanuatu next, a 3 day sail, aiming for Port Vila where 4-5 boat friends are waiting for us. Moving right along!

New Zealand, Islington Bay

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in adventure

Ahhhh, New Zealand. Good people, good food, beautiful scenery and amazing sites. It’s good to be back and reconnect with friends we made last year. Although we won’t be in the states for the holidays, we will be spending Christmas and New Years with many of our cruising family members and a New Year’s party hosted on Kalea in the downtown Auckland (Viaduct Marina). 

Today’s post is about the hike and anchorage across the bay from Auckland. It’s a rather large set of islands called Rangitoto and Motutapu. In the 1920s locals would sail and row themselves across the bay to these beautiful islands and build little holiday homes/structures that they called Baches. About 140 structures. This island was government owned but it didn’t deter people from carving out a piece of the island and calling at their own. The government gave the tenets leases and used the residents to build walkways and roads around the island. They were modest cabins by any stretch, but these people put a lot of time into getting materials across the bay and moved lots of lava stone to create foundations and boat ramps. 

In 1937 conservationists convinced the government that the Baches were detrimental to the efforts to conserve the island and the courts agreed. The courts gave the residents 20 years to remove themselves and everything associated with their structures. A smart attorney continued to haunt the conservationists and finally in 1957 got the New Zealand Supreme Court to agree that the Baches were part of the environment that should be protected and kept preserved as long as the family has survivors. After the 20 years of required eviction, only 30 Baches were left and to this day many have been handed down in families and still are in use. 

As we walked around, it was fun to see the ruins as well as some of the Baches still occupied by some of the original families. 

As for us, we have decided not to sail to Australia, so will fly there for a few weeks. We want more time in the tropics before we move onto Indonesia. As always……plans are ever changing to adapt to our whimsical lives. 🙂 

Sailing South for Cyclone Season

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in adventure, Sailing

⛵️ Kalea, our sailing home 49’ Catamaran, left New Caledonia and headed back South to Opua New Zealand. We had to say goodby to the warm tropical waters and beautiful coral sealife, to seek safety from the upcoming cyclone season. Most cruising boats leave the region of Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia by December and head south, to NZ or OZ, all hoping to return in May, when it’s safe again.

NZ small gulls

This journey started as a 20 knot bash, meaning close hauled, with not much swell, heading east at first. Rather uncomfortable and loud. As we tacked south, the wind shifted and we still were bashing. Still uncomfortable. Finally the 3rd day we were blessed with a speedy downwind blow but with 3 meter swell forward of the beam. A bit calmer feel, but you still need to keep a seat or hold on while moving about. Every angle of wind and swell is a different feel on a boat, especially on a catamaran. And as most of you know, bashing is never comfortable, in either boat.

Still sampling the sea water

Some friends asked about the most used sailing tools that we use. As you can imagine, paper charts are a thing of the past, since Starlink. Our most common tools are PredictWind, Open Cpn, Navionics and out boats Chartplotter program. Also handy are:

ZOLEO
Marine Traffic
Noforeignland
Google Earth

You wonder what we do for 5 days in a boat beside sail? Mainly sleep (or try to) eat (or try to) read (or try to) cook (or try to) and maybe watch a few downloaded movies. I have been successful at ocean water sampling for Citizens if the Sea, a fun side hobby so far. If you know me well, I did finish my puzzle the first day, played rummicub the second day, and I tried bananagrams, but it was a bit too lumpy that day. But overall, I am still enjoying the ocean, sunrises, sunsets, stars, my amazing captain, our passage crew friend from California, and our sailing home.

Then, it’s Land Ho! We Motor sailed the last few miles into Bay of Islands, aka Opua, New Zealand. All is well, nothing broken, just ready for some land time. Not much to report about for sealife, one squid on the bow and a few black seabirds, and no fish caught. Oh well, the lamb and meat pies are sounding great! 😋

A ton of boats returned to NZ, but we saw none out there on the passage south. PredictWind is an amazing tool.
I finally got some great photos of the full moon last month

And last but not least, my favorite video this year, taken on my go pro 12 in New Caledonia. Most of the little islets, as the this French colony calls them, are homes to multiple endangered migratory seabirds and friendly Sea Turtles! We only got to stay a week waiting for the weather window to jump south. So we will be back in May!

Free mooring balls at all the islets of New Caledonia, this helps protect the corals.

Sailing and experiencing beautiful Efate and Malehuka, Vanuatu

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in adventure

An amazing adventure in an among various small and big islands in Efate and Malehuka in Vanuatu. The highlight for us for sure were the genuinely kind and happy local people.

3 of the 7 women of Awei Village
Chief Serrano Awei

Sailing west from Fiji to Vanuatu on our beloved sailing home Kalea, we adventured through three island groups visiting numerous villages, meeting amazing people, and enjoyed some very special experiences. Lucky for us, Kathy’s brother Andrew joined us for 3 amazing weeks. We had some terrific snorkel days, saw some dugongs (like manatees) and had a great hike into the cocoa farms. Also lucky, that our good friends’, Jason and Candice (on SV Deguello) buddy boated with us the entire way. We are feeling blessed.

Follow our tracks online below, as we soon head to New Caledonia, New Zealand, and next season back up to include Solomons, Papa New Guinea, and Indonesia.

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SV_Kalea/

The daily market, so much fresh produce!

Village children are the cutest! Fun game nights were had.

Bislama language of Vanuatu

  • Hello: Halo
    -Good bye: o revar
  • Thank you: Tangkyu
  • Yes: Yes
  • No: No
  • Good: Gud
  • Nice to meet you: Mi glad blong mitim yu
  • How are you?: Yu stap gud?
  • I don’t know: Mi no save
  • Thank you very much: Tangkyu tumas

Although there are more than 80 languages here in the Vanuatu islands, some English, we have been having fun with the common language of Bislama. It is creole like, so fairly easy to interpret. Bislama’s vocabulary is basically English, with influences from French and local languages.
Bislama language is important for Vanuatu’s culture as it ties the far off island villages together, also providing communication for young dating couples. Read the signs aloud, you’ll surely chuckle!

We are “Citizens of the Sea”

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in adventure

🌏 As Scott and I travel and sail through the South Pacific Ocean, and enjoy all that the sea has to offer, we want to give back, scientifically speaking. We have found and paired up with an organization for testing these waters while on our passages. I am excited to say that our first sampling was just the other day on our sail west from Fiji to the small island country of Vanuatu.

🌎The Pacific has a vast expanse of marine ecosystems, and is a vital contributor to biodiversity and ecosystem health. From providing us oxygen through marine microbes to sustaining billions of people with seafood, we all know the ocean plays a crucial role in supporting life on Earth.

🌎“Citizens of the Sea” a Non profit from New Zealand, is on its second year spearheading efforts to bridge this knowledge gap. They have connected with us adventurous leisure sailors exploring island groups such as Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia. There are 26 sailboats participating this year, and we are outfitted with special tools and apps for data collection. We gather environmental DNA by dragging this torpedo behind Kalea for a few minutes everyday while on offshore passages. Our mission is to help document the rich biodiversity of each region we sail through.

🌎 We, as sailor scientists are collecting this data to help the lab identify 1 billion DNA sequences from 600 samples across the Pacific Ocean. (Assisting this program provides data for only 10% of the cost of traditional ocean data acquisition.) We are proud to partake! 🌎

DNA samples and microscopic Copepods

Want to read more? Click link https://www.citizensofthesea.org/news/the-importance-of-biodiversity

My Bad Ass Diving Wife

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in Scuba Diving

Here’s to my bad ass wife that saves the day! We had anchored Kalea in a small bay in Fiji, only for the protection it would give us for a windy night. After this little storm (still blowing), the anchor was fouled up on rocks and we tried everything to get it free. Driving to the right then to the left and again. With the next weather heading in soon, coming from the opposite direction, we needed to move. Kathy donned the wetsuit and scuba gear and headed to the dark bottom below us (50’). She directs me at the helm to the proper locations to unwind the boat as she clears the 10mm chain that was wrapped three times around a rock. She is a good swimmer and reported that she always kept one eye up on the boat and props. I’m so happy to have a true partner out here. She is as capable and brave as they come. -Scott ❤️

Done!

Anchoring down in Kadavu, Fiji is another world class diving area. The variety of corals, the colorful soft corals, the geologic formations and the little tunnels to peek into. Just dreamy. A typical dive for us is 45 minutes at about 60 feet. Sometimes it’s a wall dive or a pinnacle dive or short swim through. It’s also a sailors dream, with protected anchorages all the way around the islands.

Kadavu Islands, Fiji

A bit more about Scuba Diving, if you are new to it. We love to snorkel and see most everything that way, but it’s sometimes not as clear or the sea life is 20 feet down. So Scuba it is. We understand and avoid nitrogen narcosis and decompression sickness, every time. Scott and I monitor our air supply and dive time a number of times during each dive. We also always make a safety stop during our ascent. I like to always make gradual descents, clearing my ears about every 8 feet. Scott is lucky as he learned (back in 1977) how to clear his ears hands free, by jutting his jaw forward, still with regulator in his mouth of course. We both learned in our scuba certification courses to always stay within safe depth limits, and if we go to 100 feet, we are only there for a few minutes, to maximize our length of dive.

On every dive we choose to have a whistle, an extra second stage regulator, dive computer and gauges, a glove, a knife, a surface marker buoy, a light, and a snorkel at the ready, as when we ascend we may need to swim a distance and don’t want to use our precious air. It’s essential for all divers to understand and take necessary precautions to have a safe diving experience.

Buddy diving with Candice
Soft coral
My favorite fish to date: Clown Trigger fish

Life on a Sailboat, Year 4 Begins

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in adventure, Sailing

The trade-offs for this amazing experience: smaller spaces, fewer conveniences, missing family and a level of unpredictability most people would never sign up for.

My life on a boat; the highs, lows and a few other oddities. It’s probably often that you see sailing posts and YouTube stories about all the glamorous aspects of sailing. But it’s important to know that it’s not all champagne sailing nor is it all that it seems to be. It’s tough at times. This month had amazing highs for me, but did have lows, and some tough lessons that I am grateful to have learned.

Most of you know me, I am an optimist. I trust the universe. I have conquered fear (to date, anyway). I don’t like to complain or be negative, ever! I look for the good in every tricky or uncomfortable situation. And, I always remind myself that 4 years ago I “chose” to live on a boat.

Life is a choice. So I will start with the lows, but painfully: Since we chose to visit the very remote Lau group of islands in Fiji, we chose to have 0 amenities off the boat. 0 restaurants, 0 stores, 0 taxis, 0 resources, and 0 gas stations….for 6 weeks. I am so grateful that Kalea provided so much comfort and safety, because the feeling of isolation, without any other option, does creep in. Cooking 3 meals a day x 42 days is 126 meals, straight.

Thats one thing, but food management is another. So I have to make my own yogurt, bread and grow sprouts. We also got quite low on dingy fuel, which created more time on the boat and less adventuring. We didn’t catch any fish. And lastly, we got attacked by mosquitoes and no see ums both in the jungle and on the boat. Enough of that! On to the highs!

Too many to count….The stunning beauty. The amazing friendships. My bread machine. The friendly Fijians. The clearests waters. Shell searching. Very little humidity. Yoga. My amazing husband. South beach Ogea. My best girlfriend, Candice. Bugspray, bug couls and bug screens. Happy hour with friends. Sprouts. Cookies. Adventuring. Sailing. Cruising with Sea Bella. Wingfoiling. Playing with the local children. Jokers and marbles. Helping fix the villagers sewing machine and generator. Bonfires. And lastly; KALEA!

This life isn’t about escape. It’s about alignment. It’s learning what really matters and building a life around that. And, I am so grateful cuz it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

We now head back into civilization again. A quick stop at Kadavu for some world class diving. Then to Musket Cove. Fiji. I am excited to say we fly to California soon for Montana’s wedding. This October we head to Vanuatu, December New Zealand, March Australia, June Indonesia. (Loose plans for now)